Allahabad Bank is the oldest public sector bank in India. It was set up in 1865 by a group of Europeans with a seed capital of Rs 2 lakhs. By the end of 19th century, the bank had branches at Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jaipur, Nainital, Kolkata and Delhi.
In 1920, Allahabad bank was taken over by P&O Banking Corporation and its Head Office was shifted to Kolkata in 1923 for business considerations and operational convenience. In 1927, the bank went into the fold of Chartered Bank that acquired the controlling interest in the P&O Banking Corporation.
On July 19, 1969, Allahabad Bank was nationalized along with 13 other major commercial banks. At the time of nationalisation, the Bank had a network of 151 branches, deposits of Rs.114 crores and advances of Rs.82 crores to its credit. On April 3, 1982, Allahabad Bank opened its 1000th branch.
The Bank made a foray into merchant banking activity in 1984 and subsequently transferred the merchant banking activities to All Bank Finance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, in 1991. In October 1989, United Industrial Bank Limited was amalgamated into Allahabad Bank.
In 1989, Allahabad Bank ventured into the credit card business by launching its credit card - the BOBCARD-Allahabad Bank, with Bank of Baroda. The Bank, in 1992-93, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Bank of India to launch Indiacard, replacing BOBCARD.
Allahabad Bank became the first nationalised bank in Eastern India to become a depository participant of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) to offer demat and related services and initiated "Flexi-fix Deposit Scheme" to mobilise resources. The Bank also introduced "Kisan Card" to facilitate agriculture related activities as well as to meet the domestic requirements of farmers.
As on September 7, 2004, Allahabad Bank had 1934 branches. The branches include 32 specialised branches (i.e. 4 Industrial Finance Branches, 6 SSI Finance Branches, 6 International Branches, 6 Recovery Branches, 1 NRI Branch, 1 Industrial Finance-cum-International Branch, 2 Specialised Personal Banking Branch, 1 Specialised Savings Bank Branch, 3 Quick Collection Service Branch and 2 Trading Finance Branch) besides 16 Service Branches.
Allahabad Bank, Jaipur 13-14, Shopping Center, Ambabari Colony, Jaipur |